Would you turn back to Luke chapter
22? Did you notice the beautiful
moon driving over here? I was just astounded with the
beauty of that moon. And the thought occurred to me,
it's my moon. If it's the Lord's moon, it's
my moon. Because I'm a joint heir with
Christ, and everything that belongs to him belongs to me. What a
sweet thought that was. That's my mom. Luke chapter 22
verse 35. Now the Lord is reminding them
of when he sent them out two by two to preach the gospel without
money, without a suitcase, and without shoes. Now can you imagine
going on a trip without money? without suitcase and without
shoes. And he said unto them, when I
sent you without purse and script and shoes, lacked you anything? And they said, nothing, nothing. And my mind was brought to the
23rd Psalm. As soon as I read that and thought
about that, I thought of the Lord asking, did you lack anything?
Nothing. And I thought of David saying,
the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I shall not lack. I shall not
be in need. Now, would you turn with me to
Psalm 23? We're leaving Luke 22 and thinking about this 23rd
Psalm. This may be the most well-known
passage in all of the Word of God. How many times at people's
funeral is the 23rd Psalm read? It's been memorized by many,
but I think it's important for me to make this statement regarding
Psalm 23. And I need to make this statement
to show how important the Lord being a shepherd is and what
that means. And here's a statement I want to make. He's not everybody's
shepherd. Now, I understand that. He is
not everybody's shepherd. Not everyone can read this honestly
and say, the Lord is my shepherd. Now, somebody says, why are you
even bringing that out? Well, the same reason I bring
out that the Lord died only for the elect. Scripture teaches
it, but that's my hope. And my hope is that the Lord's
my shepherd. And if he's the shepherd of somebody who doesn't
end up being saved, that kind of shepherd won't do me any good.
But oh, if my shepherd is the Lord, I shall not want. You see, he's the shepherd of
the sheep. He is called in Hebrews chapter
13 verse 20, that great shepherd of the sheep. Now you're either
a sheep or a goat. A sheep never becomes a goat. And a goat never becomes a sheep. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
25. I want to read some scriptures about sheep and goats and sheep. Verse 31, When the Son of Man
shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him,
then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. Don't you love
the majesty of that? What a glorious Savior we have. I love to think of Him sitting
on the throne of His glory. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the goats, and he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on his left. Now there are sheep,
and there are goats. Turn with me to John chapter
10. Verse 24. Then came the Jews round about
him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But you believe not, because
you are not of my sheep, as I said to you." Now, he doesn't say, You're not a sheep
because you don't believe like if you would believe it would
make you a sheep. He said the reason you don't
believe is because you're not a sheep. Now that tells us just
in that statement that not everybody's a sheep. You don't become a sheep
by believing. You believe because you're a
sheep. Now look how the Lord identifies this sheep in this
chapter. Look in verse 15. Who are the
sheep? As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father,
and I lay down my life for the sheep. The sheep are the people
he laid down his life for. They're the people he died for.
Look down in verse 29. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all. The sheep are the ones the Father
gave him. The sheep are the elect. Look
in verse 3. To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice. That's what the sheep do. They
hear his voice. And he calleth his own sheep
by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his
own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him. For
they know his voice, and a stranger will they not follow, but will
flee from him. For they know not the voice of
strangers, Sheep know His voice. They know the gospel and they
won't hear something that's not His voice. Look in verse 27 of
the same chapter, My sheep hear My voice and I know them and
they follow Me and I give unto them eternal life. and they shall
never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand, the great shepherd. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. So he is the shepherd of the sheep. If you're a sheep, he's your
shepherd. And if he's your shepherd, you
know what? You shall not want. anything. Now turn back to Psalm
23. Sheep. He's the shepherd of the sheep.
Now, not dogs, not cats. I remember when I was a kid we
had a record that we'd always listen to called The Incredible
Journey. It's where this dog and cat got moved thousands of
miles from its home and they made this incredible journey
back and found their home when they had been taken away and
it's amazing how dogs and cats can find their way back home.
You throw them 50 miles away and somehow they're going to
get back home. But you know sheep aren't like that. Sheep can't
find their way back. Sheep are very stupid. Sheep
are very dirty. Sheep are defenseless. They can't
protect themselves. Sheep go astray so easily. It's their nature to go astray
and go in the wrong direction. Sheep, sheep need a shepherd. You don't have wild sheep. Sheep
couldn't survive without a shepherd, could they? Sheep need a shepherd. And David was a shepherd. He
was speaking from experience when he said, thinking about
what a shepherd is, he said, the Lord is my shepherd. And
this is something that every believer can say. The Lord is
my shepherd and I shall not want. Now, Christ is called the good
shepherd. He's called the chief shepherd.
And he's called that great shepherd of the sheep. The Lord is my
shepherd, I shall not want. Jehovah, the God of the Bible,
the almighty, independent, eternal, immutable, just, gracious God
of the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah, is my shepherd. Because he's my shepherd, I shall
not want, I shall not lack, I'm not going to come up short, I'm
not going to fail. When I stand before God in judgment,
I will not lack anything. I'll be perfectly accepted, perfectly
justified because my shepherd's the Lord. He's going to make
sure that happens. And between now and then, I'm not going to
lack anything in any way because my shepherd is the Lord. Now,
I spend way too much time thinking about things that if I really
was aware and cognizant of the Lord being my shepherd, I wouldn't
be thinking about those things. I wouldn't even be concerned
about them. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Now the reason for Psalm 23 is
Psalm 22. This is why David can speak with
such confidence saying, the Lord is my shepherd, because of the
Psalm of the cross. And that's what Psalm 22 is preeminently. It's the Psalm of the cross.
Look the way it begins. Verse 1. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? And you go on and read that psalm. Every word is Christ speaking
from the cross. And he was forsaken. He was forsaken
by God. Why? The sins of his people became
his sins so that he actually became guilty of them. And God
forsook him because he was guilty as the sin-bearing substitute
of his people. And because of what he did on
the cross, Psalm 23 is for everybody he died for. The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. Verse 2. Now why is it, before I go to
verse 2, why is it that we can say with confidence, I shall
not want, I shall not be lacking in anything, I'm not going to
come up short anywhere. How is it that we can say that
with confidence, really believing it to be so? Listen to this scripture. He
that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not? What could
possibly prevent Him from freely giving us all things? Now that's why we can say, the
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. It's because of the
cross. It's because God spared not His own Son, He's not going
to withhold anything from us. We shall not want. Now, look
at what David goes on to say in verse 2. He says, He maketh
me to lie down. And that word lie down is actually
rest. He makes me to rest in the green
pastures, the green pastures of His Word. Because my shepherd
is the Lord, I'm going to find rest. Rest. Ceasing from labor. Knowing that
everything God requires of me, I have. There's no unfinished
business. There's nothing for me to do.
I have rest. He that's entered into His rest
hath ceased hath ceased from his own labors as God did from
his. Have you ever ceased? You don't
look for a thing out of yourself. You're not doing anything that
you think is going to somehow make you more saved or improve
anything. There's nothing to do. You rest. Now, if my shepherd is the Lord,
I'm not going to lack rest. Turn with me for a moment to
Genesis chapter 2. Actually, we'll read the last
few verses of, or the last verse of Genesis chapter 1. And God saw, verse 31 of Genesis
chapter 1, and God saw everything that he'd made. And behold, it
was very good. And the evening and the morning
were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished there was nothing left to do and all the host of
them and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made
which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his
work which he had made And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified
it because that in it He had rested from all His work which
God created and made. Now here's the first concept
in the Scriptures we have of rest. And what is rest? Rest
is a response to there's nothing to do. Notice these words in
those verses I read. Finished. Finished. Ended. Blessed. Sanctified. Rest. Rest is a response to,
there's nothing to do. The work has been completed.
The work is done. The work is finished. Because
my shepherd is the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who
finished the work, and behold, it was very good. Nothing can
be added to it. Nothing can be taken from it.
Oh, because my shepherd is the Lord, I will not want rest. Still in verse 2, it says, He,
my shepherd, leadeth me beside the still waters. Psalm 23. He leadeth me beside
the still waters. the waters of quietness, peaceable
waters, because my shepherd is the Lord, I shall not want peace." Isn't peace a wonderful feeling?
Not feeling turmoil, not feeling conflict, not feeling like you're
going to come up A day later, a dollar short. It's the peace
of justification. Now, this is where this peace
comes from. It's the peace of justification.
Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there's not a day that goes by
when I don't feel some inner turmoil. Because of troubles
on the outside, troubles on the inside, I feel trouble. But I don't need to. I wish I
could learn that. I don't need to. Because I'm
justified before God. The sin question is completely
been taken care of. It's been put away. What peace
there is in knowing that everything that God requires of me, He looks
to His Son Jesus Christ the Lord for. Everything. And I'm complete
in Him. He's all in my salvation. You
know what that makes me feel? Peace. If there's anything that's
required of me, I lose my peace. If I think there's anything required
of me, I lose all assurance. But when I see that Christ is
all in my salvation, what peace I experience. I'm going to stand
before God in Judgment Day in boldness because of what the
Lord Jesus Christ did for me. What peace there is there. And
you know, everything between now and then, He's in control
of it. And we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are called according to His promise,
His purpose. Peace. I shall not want Peace. Oh, the peace his sheep enjoy. Now look in verse 3 of Psalm 23. He restoreth my soul. Because my shepherd is the Lord,
I'm not going to lack restoration. Now, that word is literally turned. That's what a shepherd does.
Sheep wander away, what's the shepherd do? He turns them back.
Because my shepherd is the Lord, I'm always going to have him
turning me back to himself. I know we sing that song, prone
to wonder, Lord, I feel it, and I know I'm prone to wonder, and
you know you're prone to wonder. You know you'll wander away.
You know one thing about a sheep is, if there's a place for them
to get out, they can always find that. They're good at that. But
they can't find their way back. The shepherd has to turn them
back. And oh, how thankful I am for
the turning grace of my shepherd. If he doesn't turn me, I'll just,
I'll never get back. I love what the psalmist said
in Psalm 80, Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, and cause thy face
to shine, and we'll be saved. I want to be turned, don't you?
I don't want to be left to myself. I want my shepherd to turn me.
I can't take care of myself. I can't keep myself. I won't
stay in the fold. I need to be turned. Turn us, Jeremiah said, and we'll
be turned. The Lord is my shepherd and I
will not lack this being turned. I love what David says In the
last verse of Psalm 119, verse 176, he said, I've gone astray
like a lost sheep. Seek thy servant, find me, look
for me, bring me back, for I do not forget Thy word. Aren't you thankful for his turning,
his restoring power? What would we be without it? We're kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation. I think of what Peter said. He
said, For you were as sheep going astray, but have returned. And that word actually is in
the passive tense. The reason you've returned is
because you've been turned. Don't you need the shepherd to
turn you non-stop all the time. The Lord is my shepherd. And
because my shepherd is the Lord, I'm always going to have him
when I'm straying off, him turning me back to himself. And I have
that confidence. What a wonderful thing. My shepherd
is the Lord. And look what he says in verse
3. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want righteousness. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. Now because my shepherd
is the Lord, not only will I be turned, I'm always going to have
righteousness. Now let me remind you, there's
only one righteousness. The righteousness of Jesus Christ. The righteousness of God. Somebody says, well, I'm living
righteously. Well, you've got a high opinion of the way you're living.
You've got a wrong opinion of the way you're living, too. You're
dead wrong if you think something like that. Well, I'm living morally.
Well, I hope you are, but you're not living righteously. There's
only one righteousness. The righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Now, his righteousness is imputed to every believer. And that means
his righteousness really is mine. I'm the righteousness of God
in him. I'm not going to like righteousness. and his righteousness
is imparted in the new birth. That's regeneration when he gives
you a righteous nature, a holy nature, a nature that you didn't
have before. And because your shepherd is
the Lord, you will never lack righteousness. And here's what
I love. He's got a reason for giving
it to us. Notice what he says. He restores my soul. He leads
me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. And that's all the reason it's
needed. His name's sake. That's why I'm always going to
be righteous. It's for Christ's sake. His name's sake. Nevertheless,
Psalm 106a, nevertheless, He saved them for His name's sake. Though they were so bad, He saved
them for His name's sake. that he might make his mighty
power known. Because my shepherd is the Lord
at all times, I'll never lack this thing of righteousness."
And that's a wonderful thing to think. Right now, when God
looks at this man, he looks at a man who is perfectly righteous,
even the righteousness of his son. Now, what a glorious thing
to have the Lord as your shepherd. You won't lack righteousness.
Look in verse 4. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death. Isn't that what we're doing right
now? We're walking through the valley
of the shadow of death. It's all around us, whether we're
aware of it or not. You young people, I understand
you not wanting to die. I understand that. There's all
kinds of things you want to experience in life, and I understand that
completely. There's nothing wrong with feeling
that way. You ought to want to live and experience all the best
things you can in this life. That's good. If you're a believer,
the older you get, the more you're going to want to die. And you
see that you're walking through the valley of the shadow of death. This is not life. You know when
the Lord said, when you enter life, like you're not in life
right now. When you enter life, it's better
to enter life having a hand, one hand rather than two. Well,
I can't, you know the scripture I'm talking about. He's talking
about heaven though. He calls it life. And right now we're
walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Man that's born of woman is born
to trouble as the sparks fly upward. Trials, troubles, sickness,
stress, distress, conflict, relationships that are not good. We're walking
through the valley of the shadow of death, aren't we? That's what
I'm talking about when you're getting ready to die. That's talking about
right now. Me and you. We're walking through
the valley of the shadow of death. And look what he says. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil. For thou art with me. I have his presence. He's always with me. When I'm
aware of it, oh, isn't it wonderful when you feel the presence of
the Lord? You're unable to pray. You're
unable to pour out your heart before Him. You feel His nearness
and His presence. Oh, how wonderful that is. Sometimes
you don't feel anything. Sometimes you're not even thinking
about Him. You still have His presence. He said, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, the
Lord's my helper. I shall not fear what man shall
do unto me. I have His presence. And having
His presence, there's nothing to fear. That's why David said,
I fear no evil. I'm in His hands. He's my shepherd.
I have His presence and there's nothing like having the presence
of the Lord. If the Lord's my shepherd, I
have nothing to fear walking through the valley of the shadow
of death right now because He's with me. And think of this, if
he's with you, what is there to fear? Fear the devil? He'd smash the devil easy enough.
Fear your circumstances? He's in control of them. Fear
tomorrow? He's in control of that too.
The Lord is my shepherd, so as I walk through this valley of
the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil. And then he says in
verse 4, thy rod and thy staff. They comfort me. Now a shepherd
has a rod and a shepherd has a staff. Now the rod is used
to protect the sheep. The staff is used as a walking
stick, something to support. Now if my shepherd is of the
Lord, is the Lord, I have His protection and His support and
sustenance. He's going to support me and
hold me up and He's going to protect me so that nothing can
get me if my shepherd is the Lord. The Lord is my shepherd. His rod and His staff, they comfort
me. Oh, how they comfort me to be
protected by Him and to be supported and sustained by Him. Look what
it says in verse 5. Thou, my shepherd, preparest
a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Everybody has enemies. People
who don't love you. People who don't want your good
but wish ill of you. Everybody has enemies. But you
know what? Those aren't our enemies. They really aren't our enemies.
You remember when Shemai cursed David and threw rocks at him
and Abishai said, let me go take his head off. David said, no,
the Lord said, curse. David, your enemies are for your
good. They're for your good. Let me
tell you who my enemies are. My enemies are my sins. You feel that way? My enemies
are my sins. They're my deadly enemies. They're
ever before me. And yet the Lord prepares a table
for me a table of grace in the very presence of my enemies. I'm like Mephibosheth sitting
there at the king's table still lame in my feet. I'm so thankful
the Lord leaves that detail in that story. Still lame in my
feet. But one of these days, I'm going
to be sitting at his table, and I'm not going to be lame anymore.
I'm going to be perfectly conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus
Christ, sitting at the king's table. But even now, even now,
I have a place at the king's table. And you're still lame? You still have sin? I'd be a
liar if I said I didn't. And you would too. But thank
God for the gospel. He prepares a table for us in
the very presence of our enemies. The table of His grace. He said, verse 5, Thou anointest
my head, and my marginal reading says you make fat. My head with
oil, my cup runneth over. The liberal soul shall be made
fat. The same word. This is talking
about the prosperity of every believer. Their cup runs over
because their shepherd's the Lord. If your shepherd is the
Lord, how can you be anything but prosperous? Whatever your
outward condition is, you're still prosperous. That's why
I hate the... I said that this morning. I hate
the term a defeated Christian. There's no such thing. A defeated
Christian? If the Lord's your shepherd,
how are you defeated? Oh, if the Lord's my shepherd, oh, my
head is anointed with oil. I am prospered by Him. He takes
care of me. The Lord's my shepherd. He anoints
my head with oil, my cup runs over. It can't get any better.
It can't get any more, I can't get more saved than I am unprotected,
excepted in the beloved because my shepherd is the Lord. Verse
six, surely, surely. Once again, that word
is there because of Psalm 22, because he was forsaken. I'm
not gonna be forsaken. because he's my substitute and
representative, my shepherd. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. Now, my shepherd has two
sheepdogs, and the sheepdogs are named Goodness and Mercy,
and they got my back. They're following me. Even when
I don't see them, they've got my back. Isn't it wonderful to
have a friend who's got your back? They've got your back.
Well, this is the friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
He's got two sheepdog. One's name's goodness, and the
other's name is mercy. Now, the goodness of God is his
capacity to save somebody like me or you. You know the reason
God saves? Because God is good. He delights
in mercy. When he identifies himself, proclaiming
his name to Moses, in Exodus chapter 34, he said, The Lord,
the Lord God, merciful and gracious, abundant, long-suffering, abundant
in goodness and in truth. When Moses said, Show me your
glory, he said, I'll make all my goodness pass before thee.
Now remember this bunch Moses is praying for? They've made
a golden calf and they're worshiping that golden calf. And they're
saying, these be thy gods that delivered thee out of Egypt.
And Moses is praying for them. And show me your glory. I'll make
all my goodness to pass before you. You can't out sin God's
goodness. Isn't that a blessed thing to
know? You cannot out-sin God's goodness. God is always good. And the other sheepdog is mercy. Mercy has my back. Mercy's in
front of me. Mercy has my back. And so I don't
have to worry about what's behind me when I have these sheepdogs
looking after me. Goodness and mercy. I love it when we sing that song.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Here's
the last thing, because my shepherd is the Lord, I have an eternal dwelling place in Him. My dwelling place is in Him. And it's an eternal dwelling
place. It's where I'm always going to
be. I'm never going to be turned out. I'll always be there. I always have a place to stay.
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I love it when
David says in Psalm 27, One thing have I desired of the Lord, and
that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life. to behold the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire into his temple. I've got an eternal place to
stay. You know what? We're going to
be there together. Isn't that a wonderful thought? Not only
do we love the shepherd, we love the sheep, don't we? And we'll
be in this eternal house together because my shepherd is the Lord. Now, I think of what the Lord
said to his disciples Like you anything? Nothing. Nothing. Complete in him. Let's
pray. Lord, how thankful we are for
our. Good shepherd. The chief shepherd. The Lord
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. Lord, how we thank you for the
rest that's in him. But you make us to lie down in
green pastures. How thankful we are for the peace
that's in him. You make us to. Lie down and
increase green pastures and lead us beside the still waters. How
thankful we are for your restoration. You restore our soul. How we
thank you for righteousness. You guide our paths and righteousness
for your namesake. How we thank you for your presence.
That as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we have
nothing to fear because you're with us. How we thank you for
our shepherd. In Christ's name we pray, amen.
I've asked Matt to sing.